Huge cracks in clay soil...what to put in them?

catembi

catembi

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My new field is on clay (sloping so I am hoping it won’t get too wet) but has developed lots of large cracks during the dry summer. If I come across one, I was thinking that I should put something down it to save anyone putting a hoof into it, but what? What would be good for the soil? Sand? Lime? Leave them alone? My previous property was on sand (site of a juassic sea despite being about as far inland as you can get) so I haven’t had to deal with this before!
 
As a professional in land management in your new area ,Leave well alone . This dry summer will have done wonders for the soil structure that would normally cost you mega bucks , it is called natural restructuring and is the reason many heavy land farms in cambridgeshire produce such good crops with relatively low rain fall.
You need to realise that as the land dampens again those cracks will disappear but leave natural fissures for drainage.Filling them with anything will just create a soggy mess.
 
We have these too and I'm also concerned as they are deeper than the length of my arm and I'm concerned the horses will put their feet down them as at the surface they are about hoof width.
Popsdosh any ideas how I can make them safe ? Will the top close up and become stable again over the winter ?
 
Yes, Whiteflower, that’s exactly my concern. They look like potential leg breakers, and as we all know, horses are perfectly capable of self-harming in a totally flat and featureless field... And one of mine is an ex racer/injury magnet...!
 
whiteflower said:
We have these too and I'm also concerned as they are deeper than the length of my arm and I'm concerned the horses will put their feet down them as at the surface they are about hoof width.
Popsdosh any ideas how I can make them safe ? Will the top close up and become stable again over the winter ?
Click to expand...

Of course it will close up as the land takes on the rain we have been having
 
I'm not on clay, but I noticed these deep cracks in some pasture that we were walking across on a footpath in the cotswolds a few weeks ago. Is this normal for clay, or is it due to the exceptionally dry summer? I thought at the time that it wouldn't be safe to turn any type of stock out onto it.
 
As it dries clay shrinks, hence cracks. I’ve always grazed on clay, 40 odd years. The cracks come and go, no issues so far. If you have a bad area the only thing you can do if your worried is fence the horses away from it.
 
I've had to section mine off having found a line of hoof prints about 3 inches into it. That's was what my concern was. Luckily horses all ok. Really hope it does as said above and expands and fills in as it's meant sectioning off a large area. Lived here for years and never had cracks like this on the land. Shows what the extreame summer has done !
 
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